Saturday, 6 September 2014

While we failed in our mission to set up the Truth Booth, due to vastly underestimating the severe winds and potential for sandstorms, we succeeding in our first Burn. It was overwhelming, remarkable, sometimes unreal, relentless, and totally amazing. Perhaps next year we'll get it right?

Friday, 20 September 2013

This is long overdue... an enormous thank you to Antoinette de Jong! Antoinette made this project, full stop. Literally. We met her at the Unseen Photo Festival in Amsterdam a year ago where she mentioned the idea of taking the Truth Booth to Afghanistan completely out of the blue. Of course we said yes, but it took countless hours, days, and months of preparing and organizing and behind the scenes work to actualize it. All of this was done by Antoinette. Her unreal patience in all of our dealings, her understanding and appreciation of the In Search of the Truth project, years of experience in Afghanistan, and her extraordinarily generous approach to everyone will not be forgotten. Antoinette got us off the ground and guaranteed the success of our journey. Our appreciation and gratitude is immense. Thank you. And you should check out her and her partner's amazing book in the meantime: Poppy: Trails of Afghan Heroin

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Yet another huge thank you. This time to Ian MacWilliam. Ian is the regional (Afghanistan/Pakistan) director for Free Press Unlimited, the good people from the Netherlands that made In Search of the Truth: Afghanistan possible. Ian's vast knowledge of the region and its history was an invaluable resource. His patience and professionalism in our everyday dealings and the constant logistical challenges were not only admirable, but essential to the project. He also knows all the best Sheesha spots throughout Afghanistan. Here he is on top of the 'City of Screams' along the ancient Silk Road in Bamyan. Photo: Antoinette DeJong.

Friday, 6 September 2013

Today was our final day putting up the booth in Afghanistan – we're leaving tomorrow. The day was billed as "media day" and most of the time was spent by 1TV filming promos in and outside the booth. The promos are for a Truthbooth show they will be producing once we get the footage translated and sent over. They have been great partners, giving us a permanent floor manager who toured with us, helping with security and logistics, and translations (among a host of things). We absolutely couldn't have pulled this off without their collaboration and support. Many, many thanks!

Wednesday, 4 September 2013

The tour of Afghanistan is close to wrapping up with only one more stop in Kabul now, so we should get over 700. Not all are usable, but it's still far more than we expected to get and some are just stunning. Now the challenge is getting them all translated and subtitled, which is a task far greater (and expensive!) than we had planned. We have only a few completed so far... and it has taken all our extra time. If anyone knows how to help (fluency in Dari and Pashto (and English) essential), please contact!

We were able to get permission to set up the Truth Booth right at the base of the Buddha which was dynamited by the Taliban in 2001. It was the largest Buddha sculpture in the world at 175 ft and took 100 years to build between the 4th and 5th centuries. Bamyan, which lay on the ancient silk road, was at the time the epicenter of Buddhism and housed over 4,000 pilgrims in the tunnels and caves around the sculpture. Buddhism first spread west to here, then east to China.

Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Bamyan is famous for its potatoes. Small fields growing spuds and the farm workers harvesting them are ubiquitous throughout the town. Afghans really do make a big deal about these spuds... and with good reason, they're delicious!

Saturday, 31 August 2013

We visited the ruins of the 5,000 year old city of Balkh today (with the help of our most trusted police dude) which at one time was the epicenter of Zoroastianism, a Hellenistic empire (Greek Bactria), Buddhism, and later Islam. The oldest mosque in Afghanistan is close to these fortress walls the guard is standing on.

The blue mosque is the holiest shrine in Afghanistan and the reputed burial site of Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin, making it the third holiest site behind Mecca and medina for Shias (this is disputed!). We had to go to a million ministries, the governors office and the chief of police to get the booth there!

Monday, 26 August 2013

The most indispensable member of the Truth Booth team, Amir Shah has smooth-talked every governor, big-man, and official, seemingly in all Afghanistan, to get us where we are today (and hope to go soon, god-willing).

Recently built by the Italians, it was a special privilege and honor to set up the booth at the school. The girls ranged from about primary to high school and seemed quite open and willing to tell their Truths. Hopefully we provided a platform for their voices to be heard which have been historically neglected. There was a teacher or two who came out in tears after telling their stories. We'll translate and post as soon as we can.

Ahmad Khān Abdālī (Pashto/Persian: احمد خان ابدالي), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded to be the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. His portrait is seen throughout the capital.

This particular portrait was done by one of the kids over at Skateistan, an ambitious and interesting NGO that promotes education and activities for boys and girls, the disabled, in Afghanistan and Cambodia. Check them out, they're doing good things.

This is our last destination in Kabul before we hit the road. Actually roads are too dangerous so we'll have to fly. Lake Qargha is very beautiful and secure now but was the scene of a bloody Taliban attack last year.

We have over 150 portraits and counting. There is an amazing diversity of styles and looks in Afghanistan; a real crossroads of civilization and peoples. We only have a rough idea what they are saying yet, still in the process of getting the videos translated which isn't so easy due to multiple languages being spoken (and how insanely fast they talk). We'll post as soon as we get them.

(Reuters) - Its pitch, they said, was so bloodsoaked that grass would not grow. For years, the only spectacles on offer at the Ghazi Stadium in the Afghan capital were executions, stonings and mutilations by the Taliban, rulers of the country from 1996 to 2001.

On Thursday, thousands of young Afghan athletes wearing soccer strips, boxing and running warmup gear, and the belted white suits of martial artists, came to the stadium to celebrate its official re-opening. This time, the grass has been ripped up and replaced with bright green artificial turf, part of a U.S.-funded stadium refurbishment.

"Of all the international projects implemented in Afghanistan, this is one of the most popular, it enjoys the support of all Afghans," said Lieutenant General Mohammad Zaher Aghbar, president of Afghanistan's National Olympic Committee, and a goalkeeper with the army's soccer team for five years.

The most ironic thing about this shot is that having a dude with a machine gun stand guard makes the booth seem safe and inviting in Afghanistan. Everything is about security here. He was one of five in our security contingent.

Jaleel is our Truth Booth floor manager and general overall stud. Here he's telling the onlookers about the booth and signing them up to participate. No way we could pull this off without him and the 1TV crew.

A Dari Proverb we are finding very fitting (inspirational?) to describe the last few days. Unable to get the proper security permits at our selected locations, we've been grounded for two days now and losing our minds. Our lock, Kabul University, backed out fearing the Truth Booth will incite student riots!

Qargha lake was the site of a major terrorist attack last year by the Taliban. We're scoping the site right now as a potential Truth Booth location. Very secure now and a favorite place for people from Kabul to picnic and swim.

We toured Afghanistan with the Truth Booth in August and September of 2013. We partnered with 1TV, a leading Afghan TV station, and Free Press Unlimited to help bring the booth to remote regions of the country.

Using this open ended format, we hope to engage directly with the people of Afghanistan (whose voice often remains unheard by traditional broadcast media) and create a innovative form of cross-cultural conversation and understanding.

Since, we have taken the Booth to Cleveland, OH, Burning Man, Palo Alto, CA, and the Facebook HQ. We are on our way to South Africa and Miami next.